7 minute read
Policy News
EU TRADE CHALLENGES REMAIN FOR UK FIRMS
Since the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) was agreed on 1 January 2021, firms are still facing many challenges relating to the TCA deal.
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The main challenges have been the need for custom declarations, rules of origin requirements and VAT issues when importing and exporting goods to the European Union (EU). The most recently released Quarterly Economic Report included a special focus on International Trade. According to the report, 83% of firms have found it more difficult to export to the EU since January. Firms who continue to export to the EU have seen lead times increase from 2-3 weeks to 8-10 weeks, particularly around challenges aligned to increase in paperwork which often means goods are held at ports without the right paperwork, which leads to delays in supply chains as well as customers receiving their goods. The Chamber continues to work with Members and government to understand these challenges and use their partnership with the Department for International Trade to help support Members who are struggling with paperwork relating to imports and exports. The report has shown that most local businesses have experienced difficulties trading with the EU since 1 January 2021, whether both importing and exporting. The difficulties have been similar across all business sizes with retailers and manufacturers experiencing more difficulties than most. It’s hard to say whether these difficulties are being caused by short term disruption or whether they’re persistent problems due to the nature of the EU-UK TCA. Covid-19 has complicated the picture, making it difficult to separate the effects of travel restrictions and a global downturn from the effects of the new trade relationship with the EU. Since the TCA was agreed, the Department for International Trade have gone on to agree a number of trade agreements with countries beyond the EU, including Japan, Norway, Iceland and Australia, with further negotiations starting with the view of joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. No doubt, the free trade agreements will help position the UK as a global trading hub with multinational firms looking to invest in UK infrastructure, skills, innovation and technology. Data from the Office for National Statistics in April showed that monthly goods imports from non-EU countries surpassed those from the EU and were the highest since records began in January 1997. For example, professional services companies (87%) are most likely to increase trade levels with the rest of the world.
The overseas market has seen an increase in sales from the previous quarter. 37% of businesses experienced an increase in Q2 2021 compared to 17% in Q1 2021. The 20% improvement in sales in the overseas market is due to a range of factors such as countries now exiting national lockdowns, which has seen a boost globally. Orders within the overseas market have more than doubled from 15% (Q1 2021) to 38% (Q2 2021). UK businesses have seen a sharp growth in orders from businesses from outside the European Bloc which has seen the UK economy grow significantly over recent times.
The Chamber will continually engage with Members to understand challenges associated with the TCA deal and regularly participate in roundtables with MP’s and British Chamber of Commerce to highlight the challenges Members face such as increased lead times, additional paperwork and rules of origin requirements.
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A PODCAST OF POSSIBILITIES
A new podcast for 2021, Mind Your Business Podcast, has been created by Alan Clark (leadership and business coach and owner of Exponential Coaching Ltd) and Matt Williams (CEO and owner of accountancy business Cypher) designed to help leaders and entrepreneurs create optimal outcomes for themselves and their business.
Alan and Matt met through Sterling Networks and share a passion for business and leadership growth. Alan said “The longer I am running my own business and helping others lead their business, the clearer I am on the huge positive impact mind-set, ownership and clarity have on critical matters like business growth and team development. We decided that we would like to create a podcast that is a blend of human and business development, and is genuinely useful! “ Mind Your Business Podcast is a weekly podcast, around 30 minutes long and has now 30 episodes available to stream and nearly 2000 downloads so far. Matt said ‘We wanted to discuss what was classically called the hard skills and soft skills within leadership and business development. We know we have added yet more information to a world full of information, that’s why we are so passionate that our listeners do create useful and useable insights that they can actually use ‘ This blend of hard skills and soft skills has definitely been evident so far within the first 30 episodes. A diverse range of episodes includes “The Psychology of Pricing “, “Learn, unlearn, relearn “, “Cash flow Masterclass “, “Crave Clarity not Certainty “and “Apathy” Alan continues “We have had lots of positive feedback from people since we started our podcast, and it’s been great to add value for leaders and entrepreneurs who are out there creating and building businesses right now, we want to help as many people as possible! ‘. All episodes of Mind Your Business Podcast can be found for on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Feedback definitely welcome! The episodes can also be reached using this link:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1527806
Alan Clark can be contacted at
alan@exponentialcoaching.co.uk.
Matt Williams can be contacted at
matt@cypherhq.co.uk.
DIGITAL SKILLS PART-TIME COURSES LAUNCHED AT MALVERN HILLS SCIENCE PARK
A college group has launched a series of new courses at Malvern Hills Science Park to help adults develop vital digital skills.
WCG will start delivering the new part-time adult courses from its Malvern Hills Centre for Digital & Cyber Technology, which is at the business centre on Geraldine Road, from September. The courses aim to support adults looking to gain digital and cyber skills required by employers in this growing local, regional and national sector. The provision has been designed to meet the needs of local employers in the area and will be run in association with the Cisco Networking Academy. Courses include: Introduction to Cyber Security, BTEC Level 3 National Diploma in Computer Systems and Networks and PCAP: Programming Essentials in Python Data Sheet. Steve Ellis, Head of Department for Digital & Cyber Technologies at WCG, said: “The part-time courses being delivered from our centre at the Malvern Hills Science Park will cover key skills in the digital and cyber sector. “The new courses have been designed to meet skill needs locally, regionally and nationally, and will prepare students in a sector which is constantly developing and growing. “Malvern Hills Science Park is the perfect location to hold these courses as many of the businesses on the park specialise in the subject areas we will be focusing on. Angela Joyce, CEO of WCG, added: “We’re pleased to be delivering this new provision in Malvern to support adults to develop key skills in digital and cyber. “The adult-part time courses being held at the science park have been identified as being able to support the development of priority skills to support Malvern businesses.” To find out more about the courses available at Malvern Hills Centre for Digital & Cyber Technology, and other WCG colleges, visit: wcg.ac.uk/adultlearning
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